Ombligón.

A distinctive Colombian selection released in very small counts.

Rare beans1 lot on offer ↓

Named for the navel-like form at the cherry base, Ombligón has moved from producer lots into the narrow end of the specialty trade.

The house buys it in very small lots. Each lot keeps its producer, hillside, process and score attached.

What is actually known

Ombligón comes from Bruselas, in Pitalito, Huila, and reached the wider trade through Finca El Diviso, the Lasso farm. The name describes the navel-like dimple at the base of the cherry. Beyond the place and the shape, very little is settled.

No genetic study of the Colombian Ombligón has been published. Roaster copy calls it a rare mutation of Bourbon and an Ethiopian LandraceA variety shaped by farmers and place rather than by a breeding programme. Most of the Ethiopian lines grown in Colombia, Gesha, Chiroso and Pink Bourbon among them, are landraces.More →, sometimes in the same paragraph, and those cannot both be true. That contradiction is the clearest sign that nobody has tested it. The house records the lineage as undocumented and leaves it there.

A name that belongs to two plants

There is a trap in the reference books. World Coffee Research lists an Ombligon, but as another name for Monte Claro, a Venezuelan Sarchimor carrying Robusta introgression, released in 2013 and grown between nine hundred and thirteen hundred metres.

That is a different plant from the one grown in Huila. Both are noted for large beans, which is probably how two countries arrived at the same nickname. Any source citing World Coffee Research for Ombligón is describing the Venezuelan variety, whatever coffee it is selling.

Colombia's best green coffee beans, at auction · 2023

31 prize lots: NZ$44 to NZ$269 a kilo.

A dot for each lot of green coffee beans sold at Colombia's best-coffee auction in 2023, by its price in New Zealand dollars a kilo, beside the price of everyday Colombian green coffee beans imported into New Zealand that year.0$50$100$150$200$250$300Everyday green coffee beans, 2023: NZ$9.52 a kiloEveryday NZ$9.52Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, 87.78 points: NZ$44 a kiloBourbon, 87.89 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 87.22 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 88 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 87.28 points: NZ$48 a kiloColombia, Typica, 87.11 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 88 points: NZ$49 a kiloAjí, 87.61 points: NZ$51 a kiloBourbon, 87.44 points: NZ$51 a kiloGeisha, 87.56 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.06 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.5 points: NZ$55 a kiloChiroso, 89.39 points: NZ$62 a kiloCaturra, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloGeisha, 88.17 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra Chiroso, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra, 88.89 points: NZ$75 a kiloCaturra, Castillo, Colombia, 88.06 points: NZ$76 a kiloGeisha, 88.83 points: NZ$81 a kiloGeisha, 89.5 points: NZ$87 a kiloGeisha, 87.44 points: NZ$95 a kiloGeisha, 87.89 points: NZ$99 a kiloGeisha, 89.78 points: NZ$140 a kiloGeisha, 90.06 points: NZ$144 a kiloAjí, 89.56 points: NZ$151 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$253 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$269 a kiloA dot for each lot of green coffee beans sold at Colombia's best-coffee auction in 2023, by its price in New Zealand dollars a kilo, beside the price of everyday Colombian green coffee beans imported into New Zealand that year.0$100$200$300Everyday green coffee beans, 2023: NZ$9.52 a kiloEveryday NZ$9.52Caturra, Castillo, Colombia, 87.78 points: NZ$44 a kiloBourbon, 87.89 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 87.22 points: NZ$47 a kiloBourbon, 88 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 87.28 points: NZ$48 a kiloColombia, Typica, 87.11 points: NZ$48 a kiloBourbon Rosado, 88 points: NZ$49 a kiloAjí, 87.61 points: NZ$51 a kiloBourbon, 87.44 points: NZ$51 a kiloGeisha, 87.56 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.06 points: NZ$52 a kiloGeisha, 87.5 points: NZ$55 a kiloChiroso, 89.39 points: NZ$62 a kiloCaturra, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloGeisha, 88.17 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra Chiroso, 88 points: NZ$72 a kiloCaturra, 88.89 points: NZ$75 a kiloCaturra, Castillo, Colombia, 88.06 points: NZ$76 a kiloGeisha, 88.83 points: NZ$81 a kiloGeisha, 89.5 points: NZ$87 a kiloGeisha, 87.44 points: NZ$95 a kiloGeisha, 87.89 points: NZ$99 a kiloGeisha, 89.78 points: NZ$140 a kiloGeisha, 90.06 points: NZ$144 a kiloAjí, 89.56 points: NZ$151 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.39 points: NZ$161 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.33 points: NZ$173 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$253 a kiloGeisha, 90.61 points: NZ$269 a kilo
Source: Cup of Excellence, Stats NZ · 2023

Prize lots: Cup of Excellence, Colombia's national competition, where the top-scoring green coffee beans are sold at an online auction. Winning bids in Colombia, before shipping, at each year's average exchange rate.

Everyday green coffee beans: the average value of green coffee beans imported into New Zealand from Colombia that year, with freight and insurance, before GST.